A few fun things!

This virtual teaching thing does have its advantages; this week I had a few adventures with friends and, started and finished a project just for me!

I had been wanting to solve a problem with my patio chair arms – they get wicked hot in the sun and their edges were just a wee bit pokey. I had this idea of creating some sort of a wrap for them and this week that took hold. I ordered the proper outdoor fabric that kinda sorta matched the existing furniture and that took 6 weeks to get. Once it arrived, I got to work:

I cut the pieces to size which for me was 8″ x 10″, and lopped off 1″ off of one side to allow for the turned-down top.

I stitched down three sides and on each corner I triple stitched then cut off the excess to keep it from getting too bulky.

It did require a pokey thingy to get those corners to pop. I later located my proper RNK Precision Turning Tool which made quick work of the corners. I did make a total of 28 of these guys so any little tool or process that made it go faster was welcome!

This is outdoor fabric with some sort of plastic-type of content. There was no pressing to be done on this as it would just spring back and not hold the fold. So I had to top stitch down all 3 sides so that it would keep its shape.

I marked the cover in thirds, triple stitched that first seam and then added the 3/8″ foam cut-to-size.

Stitching down the other side with the foam already inserted was a little tricky but I found if I compressed the foam with my hands it made it a whole lot easier. I later switched to my 8D (BERNINA) foot which gives a fabulous straight stitch.

It’s time to roll down that top envelope-style and stitch up that top.

All assembled and ready for the Velcro strips:

Done!

Comfy, attractive and professional looking me thinks!

I attached each with the Velcro side laid to the outside of the chair so as not to get caught on anything.

And, I actually got to go do things with friends – what a week!

Local artist, quilter, SAQA member and friend Joan Dyer had an incredible moving sale. Joan was selling off all kind of art, notions, hand-dyed fabric, thread, rulers, tools and other fun stuff as she is downsizing. I grabbed my friend Marti and off we went to see what treasures we could find:

Shibori, micro-pleated bits, pieced sections, ice-dye, finished tops…

Silk, linen, hand-dyes…

and this from a Nancy Crow workshop. Maybe I will just quilt it and call it a done!

Joan is a fine artist and is selling some of her wall art. Check on her website and if it’s not already sold, you may want to inquire to see if she is selling it.

And that’s not all. Yesterday I drove to Auburn for a bit of a play date with Linda Waddle. Linda is an extraordinary dyer, artist and surface designer. I had a lovely morning perusing her current work. This is just a taste of what she’s working on:

Linda created her own silk screen to print the above piece:

And this lovely piece using more surface design methods than I can name:

Love that color and texture!

Linda had graciously offered to try to resurrect my failed trapunto piece that I wrote about here, here, here, here and here. I worked a year on that piece before I called it a fail. Besides some technical issues, the silk had lost its gorgeous icy blue color and was descending into a pukey yellowy blue mess with no end in sight.

Here is the before, you can’t really tell, but that blue is not pretty:

Linda suggested an overdye – what did I have to lose? I am NOT a dyer so I was a mere assistant in the process. Linda mixed up a pretty blue Procion that was thickened with something goopy, sorry, forgot what it was. We used small rollers and rolled it on front and back. We were surprised by two things: it went purple in areas and, it did not take evenly:

I used a silk duipioni on the front, wool batting, cotton backing and silk and cotton threads. We batched it up and it will sit for 48 hours and then I get to see what I have:

And here’s a peek:

Linda tells me it will dry 2 shades lighter. I can’t wait to see it!

Here’s what it looked like when things were good:

 

Still does not capture its color and former beauty but it really was gorgeous at one point. Let’s hope she can be resurrected. What do I have to lose?

It was a fun and adventurous week! I’ll share this post on Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday.